Independent Project [Autumn Term]
Throughout my independent project I have been working with the idea of rural animals moving into urban areas due to the destruction of their habitats.
I feel as the population within the UK grows more housing is being built, and due to this, animals are being pushed out of their homes forcing them to appear more within urban areas.
I decided to draw these 3 animals for various reasons: I drew the Roe deer because a deer is one of the largest mammals in the UK, and it’s also an animal that you wouldn’t often see within urban areas. However, in recent years there have been numerous sightings of this majestic animal in places they wouldn’t usually be, such as housing estates and cities.
I decided to draw in coloured pencil to show each individual line and mark made on the black paper. The black paper displays the best saturation of coloured pencil so I could best show my ideas as I worked with these materials.
I drew the fox as its an animal that best describes the term ‘urban animal’, a fox is a medium sized mammal that now primarily lives within towns and cities, however the population of foxes has sadly plummeted.
The fox I drew has large black eyes that stare back at the viewer and come to display a sense of sadness and longing. Behind the fox is a car that I have painted with cream acrylic paint to cover a large area with a flat shape.
The last drawing, I did was of a field mouse, although my work is a series of 3, I feel like the mouse doesn’t display the same sense of sadness as the other two due to it not looking at the viewer but having the mouse look away. Although both eyes are still visible.
Each piece I drew has a colour scheme that I followed, mainly using warm colours to display a feeling of warmth, however there is at least one cold colour in each drawing to convey sadness.
Independent Project [Spring Term]
Urban Beasts
From the beginning of my independent project I decided to draw animals, I originally started by creating a series of A2 coloured pencil pieces of English country wildlife, of animals common in certain areas. From here I developed my ideas over the Christmas break. Over the holidays I was watching a documentary by David Attenborough (planet earth), from here I found a way to develop my ideas further and began to explore the ideas of endangered animals. Researching the top 20 endangered animals I decided to look for common features and characteristics between those on the list, before settling on Sumatran tigers and Amur leopards.
Through my exploration of this idea I began to experiment with different mediums, such as acrylic paint. From using acrylic paint, I began to experiment on different canvas types and sizes in attempt to find what scale I’m most comfortable painting on.
From my original idea I plan on investigating it further by exploring artists such as David Abram, Charles foster etc. who have all written books based on the idea of humans and there overtaking of the wilderness. I plan on visiting the library again to find other books they’ve written or buying a copy for myself for further reading.
In response to unknown urbanisation I plan on creating a large-scale acrylic piece, painted on lining paper (wallpaper) as I can then control the size of the piece I’m going to create. I’m hoping to work in acrylic with a semi realistic style, my idea is to combine apartment blocks with an image of a tiger where the appearance is only visible through the windows, showing both the urban and the wild in my artwork. I’m going to be primarily working in the studio, but also within my room so I can work on the piece during all hours.
However, from my original idea of exploring the top 20 most endangered animals, I felt like the idea of unknown urbanisation and animals moving into the city wasn’t displayed the way I wanted it to. So from here I began to research articles of my ideas, including the one below; https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/20/urban-beasts-how-wild-animals-have-moved-into-cities
From this article I began to do research on mountain lions overtaking Los Angles, and Wolves moving into suburban Germany. I chose to research the ideas of German wolves as they where having more of an effect, as 36 wolf packs have overtaken certain areas of Germany in the last 20 years.
For the exhibition and my final piece, I plan on creating a large acrylic painting on backing paper (wallpaper) so I have more leeway on the size of the piece. I plan on creating an acrylic painting of a single wolf in a limited pallet of brown and grey tones. From this I plan on drawing German architecture over the top, something that is well known and can be recognised by people who know the country. I feel like this piece will display my ideas the way I would like them to be recognised by others without much explanation.
Throughout my research I’ve been looking into certain artists such as Edwin Landseer, I researched some of his pieces such as ‘Monarch of the Glen’ Sir Edwin Henry Landseer was the greatest animal painter of his age (1802 – 1873) often endowing his subjects with the human qualities, I discovered such piece from a book I own called 1001 paintings to see before you die. From this book I began to look at other artists such as Miskin and his piece ‘ The Raven addressing the assembled animals’ created in the 15 hundreds Minsik was one of the best painters in the imperial atelier of Akbar, Minsik was first known as a colourist and then developed his skills and became and extraordinary designer.
Throughout the year so far, I have found a new love for certain materials, and techniques I didn’t know how to do previously. For example; I never had the patience for painting, until I began to put time aside a few days a week to really pick up and develop my acrylic skills. Due to this I want to further investigate my ideas in this medium and explore more techniques and styles.
Amy Pye Studio 1 